


Deep Red

by hetas



Category: Hetalia: Axis Powers
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, I just had to create the romania/slovakia tag... i really have such niche ships, M/M, Non-binary character, Shh, everyone but slovakia is a witch, its poland, lithuania is a sweetheart everyone loves, poland has also been accidentally turned into a cat, romania even has a tiny one sided crush on him, romania is an absolute disaster
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-25
Updated: 2020-10-25
Packaged: 2021-03-08 21:06:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27182878
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hetas/pseuds/hetas
Summary: Andrei considered himself an easy-going person. Sure, he had to deal with demons and monsters every once in a while but who didn't? However, he'd certainly take a monster over having to be Jakub's biochem lab partner, whether or not Erzsébet would chew him out for it.
Relationships: Lithuania/Poland (Hetalia), Romania/Slovakia (Hetalia)
Comments: 3
Kudos: 13





	Deep Red

**Author's Note:**

> OKAY so no one is going to read this, I know, this is a nonexistent ship. But maybe if you like my dumb little fic you will maybe ship it as well. My favorite Romania ship is RomBul, maybe I'll write something for them too.
> 
> I just hit 50 followers on tumblr so this is a small celebration of that as well! Also? Hetalia is coming back?? 2020 is crazy.
> 
> Anyway I hope you enjoy this!

Andrei sinks into the couch with a loud groan. He lets his body sink steadily into the too-old, too-worn cushions, and closes his eyes, wanting nothing more than the sweet, sweet embrace of death.

And then Feliks jumps into his lap. Andrei peeps open one eye to see his childhood-best-friend-turned-six-legged-cat peering up at him with their sharp green eyes. Andrei sighs, patting Feliks half-heartedly, but clearly that’s not enough, if Feliks slapping him in the face with their paw is any indication.

“Alright, alright, jeez,” Andrei huffs, struggling to sit up in the tar pit that is his living room couch, before gathering Feliks up into his arms and pressing a kiss to Feliks’ glossy tan fur. He meows in content, and Andrei finds himself relaxing a little, despite the stress of the day.

“I heard an unnecessarily loud groan and thought it was you,” Erzsébet says, appearing from the threshold of their kitchen, carrying an Erlenmeyer flask half-filled with a fluorescent blue liquid. She raises an eyebrow inquisitively, and Andrei is almost convinced that she cares. “What’s wrong?”

“What makes you think something is wrong?”

Erzsébet rolls her eyes. “It’s either that or you were jerking off.”

“Ha ha,” Andrei says dryly, jolting a little when Feliks butts their head under Andrei’s jaw, wanting more pets. “You’re so needy,” Andrei huffs under his breath, and Feliks just digs their claws into Andrei’s arm.

“What’ve you got there?” Andrei asks, once he’s extracted Feliks’s grip from his flesh. He needs to buy some time before explaining his new predicament to Erzsébet and undoubtedly getting laughed at.

Erzsébet looks at the flask and swirls the liquid around. If anything, it starts to look even more neon. “Oh, I’m working on a sleeping draught for Toris.”

Andrei raises an eyebrow. “Normal sleeping draughts don’t glow, Erzsi.”

“Oh, that’s the powdered rat spleens.” Erzsébet’s grin is kind of scary, not entirely reassuring. “Gives it that extra pop. Plus it’ll knock Toris out until next Sunday.”

“Why does Toris need to sleep for like, nine days?” Andrei thinks that even if Toris was unconscious for nine days straight he’d be okay. It’s not even the longest the warlock has slept for, if Andrei counts the two weeks he knocked out after high school graduation.

Erzsébet rolls her eyes, like Andrei is supposed to know even though there’s no way Andrei could possibly know because Erzsébet doesn’t tell him anything in the first place. “He texted me this morning, he’ll be back in a couple of days. Apparently conjuring up malicious spirits really takes a toll on you.”

Andrei recalls that Toris has been away for the last couple of weeks, raising up demons at some military boarding school. He shrugs. “That’s valid.”

“So are you gonna tell me what’s wrong or…?” At the reminder, Andrei just groans again. “Okay, I’m just gonna go put this back on the burner and we’ll talk. Just… try not to die while I’m gone.”

When Erzsébet disappears into the kitchen, Feliks swats Andrei again, this time right in the mouth. Andrei splutters, wiping the fur off his tongue on his shirt sleeve. “In my mouth? Really?” Feliks just blinks at him, eyes wide and innocent, and Andrei hates that his friend makes such a cute cat.

“Why are you so damn annoying?” Andrei huffs as he picks up Feliks again, tapping them on their pink nose. “How did I get stuck with you?” Feliks starts purring and Andrei can feel the vibrations in his hands. “Why are you so cute?”

As Andrei continues to scratch behind Feliks’ ears, he wonders whether he prefers them as a human or a cat. Obviously, if they could just find a way to reverse the spell Toris accidentally cast on Feliks two months ago, it would be nice to have them in their human form. But Andrei suspects Feliks rather likes being a cat-- likes getting away with being a brat, taking advantage of people’s heads as napping spots, eating and sleeping the days away while Erzsébet and Andrei have to go to college and get degrees like normal witches.

Andrei is in the middle of calling Feliks his sweet baby angel when Erzsébet walks back into the living room. She pauses at the threshold, watching Andrei and Feliks. “You guys are so fucking weird,” she says, shaking her head as she drops onto the couch beside Andrei.

“You just don’t understand our relationship,” Andrei says, kissing Feliks on the top of their head, before dropping them back on the ground. Ever the rebel, Feliks just hops back up onto the couch and perches themself on Andrei’s shoulder.

“Whatever. So, for the third time, what happened today?” Erzsébet asks, ignoring Andrei and Feliks’ obvious codependency issues.

Andrei sighs. Time to bite the bullet. “So you know my biochem lab?”

“The upper div one that makes you stress-sweat in the middle of the night?”

“Yeah that--” Andrei gapes at Erzsébet. “How the hell did you know that?”

Erzsébet flashes her teeth. “I know everything,

Andrei opens his mouth, then closes it. After many years of what could be called a friendship, Erzsébet still scares him. Just a little bit. “Right, yeah, so. Remember Jakub?”

Erzsébet thinks for a moment. “Doesn’t ring a bell.”

Andrei sighs sharply through his mouth. He doesn’t blame Erzsébet for not remembering, but now Andrei has to explain the situation to her again. And get laughed at. Again. “He’s that guy-- the one who asked me out the first day of class.”

A light shines in Erzsébet’s eyes. “Oh, wait! Karina’s brother! How could I forget?”

Andrei grimaces. “He’s been like… trying to flirt with me all semester? I think? And it’s just super weird?”

“God knows why, when you’re so ugly,” Erzsébet says. Andrei kicks her in the ankle, and Erzsébet retaliates by punching him in the arm, much, much harder. Andrei whines, rubbing at the sore muscle. “Why don’t you just like… I dunno, ignore him?”

“He’s my lab partner, Erzsi, I can’t just not talk to him. I just-- He’s weird. He keeps asking about me? Like how I’m doing? If I slept okay? What kind of coffee I like?”

“It’s almost like he’s interested in you,” Erzsébet deadpans, and Andrei lets out a frustrated noise.

“It’s not that simple, okay? He just-- He has these eyes, right? And he stares at me like--” Andrei widens his eyes and stares as intensely as he can at Erzsébet, until Erzsébet shoves her hands in his face and pushes him away.

“Okay, okay, it’s kinda creepy, but--” Erzsébet narrows her eyes. “Is he ugly?”

Andrei thinks of Jakub’s sharp jaw, his rows of pearly white teeth, his perfectly messy ash brown hair. “No.”

“Is he like, super short then?”

Jakub has a couple of inches on Andrei. “No…”

“Is he a jerk?”

Andrei can’t recall Jakub being anything but an upbeat sweetheart, if he ignores all the times Jakub blatantly stares at his mouth. “No?”

Erzsébet frowns. “So he’s hot, he’s tall, he’s nice, and he’s interested in you,” she lists. “I don’t see the problem here.”

“The problem--” Andrei splutters, “Is this-- ” He motions at the space around them, like it’ll explain everything. There’s nettle and yarrow growing in planters hanging from the ceiling, ivy covering their walls and winding around the shelves and bookcases. Their kitchen is no better-- a bizarre mix of a chemistry lab and a greenhouse. Andrei doesn’t even want to mention the wyvern egg he’s hatching in his room, his desk taken up by a Bunsen burner to keep it at the optimal temperature.

“What if he asks to come over? How do I explain this? How do I tell him I’m--”

“Okay, okay, let me get this straight--” Erzsébet holds out a hand to stop Andrei mid-ramble. “You’re freaking out about this project because you don’t want Jakub to find out you’re a witch?” Andrei nods slowly. “Why don’t you just… work on it at his place? Or in a coffee shop?”

Andrei feels stupid when Erzsébet says common sense stuff like that. “Well… yeah but…”

Erzsébet looks fed up. “But?”

“What if I…” Andrei sinks into the couch. “What if I end up… liking him?”

“God forbid you end up liking a guy who likes you too.”

“Your sarcasm is really not appreciated right now! I’m having a crisis!”

Erzsébet rolls her eyes, for just about the millionth time today. “Then you figure it out. Plenty of humans know about magic. If he takes it badly, just wipe his memory or something.”

“But I suck at memory charms,” Andrei whines

“Sounds like a you problem.”  
  


☾

It’s one in the morning when Andrei gets into bed. His duvet is the perfect temperature, thanks to the cooling spell Milen showed him a couple of weeks ago, and Feliks is curled on top of it on his side, sleeping peacefully. (Andrei doesn’t know how to explain why he lets a small cat take up half his bed, but this is the life he leads.)

His back aches from hunching over his least favorite cast-iron cauldron, brewing a fresh batch of doxycide for the apartment manager. He’d also managed to finish several other orders for customers and finished his online Calculus quiz, so it’s been a productive day, despite the (major, Jakub-shaped) roadbump.

As per his nighttime routine, Andrei scrolls through his phone, checking social media and his messages. There’s a text from Milen, reminding him of a dinner in a few weeks, another from Toris, asking whether the sleeping draught is finished because he’s too afraid to ask Erzsébet firsthand, and, tragically, a handful from Jakub.

**jakub biochem lab** : can u believe it took an entire semester and a group project for me to get ur #

 **jakub biochem lab** : LOL

Andrei groans, fingers curling up into a fist at the cringe.

**dre biochem lab** : haha yeah

Even though Jakub had sent those texts about five hours ago, Andrei gets a response almost immediately.

**jakub biochem lab** : ur up late! partied too hard? ;)

Andrei thinks about how it’s a Thursday night, and how he’d spilled bundimun ooze on his favorite shirt and screamed until Erzsébet hit him over the head with a spatula and made him take it off, right there in the kitchen, so she could burn it and get rid of the smell. Doxycide is poisonous to doxies, but it’s not like witches are immune to the unbearable smell, either.

**dre biochem lab** : haha yeah

Andrei just wants this conversation to end, so he can go to sleep and stay that way until ten, at least.

**jakub biochem** : is “haha yeah” ur default response to everything?

It takes all of Andrei’s willpower not to type haha yeah and-- maybe Jakub has a point.

**dre biochem lab** : sorry it’s a habit

 **dre biochem lab** : n its been a long day

**jakub biochem lab** : aww babe :(

 **jakub biochem lab** : wanna talk about it?

Andrei refuses to acknowledge that the twist in his gut when Jakub calls him babe is a bad feeling, not a good one. He doesn’t want Jakub to call him babe. He wants Jakub to disintegrate, or at the very least, leave him alone to his misery.

**dre biochem lab** : nah its nbd haha

 **dre biochem lab** : anyways when did u wanna meet to work on the presentation

**jakub biochem lab** : right to business huh

 **jakub biochem lab** : i like it ;)

**dre biochem lab** : u use ;) way too much my dude

**jakub biochem lab** : u could call it a habit

**dre biochem lab** : do u regularly flirt text w everybody?

Oh god, Andrei shouldn’t have sent that. Bundimun ooze makes him loopy. He hates making doxycide but it’s the only way the apartment manager lets them grow hemlock on their balcony.

**jakub biochem lab** : LOL yeah

 **jakub biochem lab** : i mean,,, no?

 **jakub biochem lab** : not if u dont want me to?

**dre biochem lab** : im just kidding 

**dre biochem lab** : so when are u free?

**jakub biochem lab** : saturday night maybe?

Andrei has no social life to speak of, so he doesn’t hesitate to agree.

**dre biochem lab** : yeah sounds good. ur place?

**jakub biochem lab** : can we do urs? my sister’s gonna have her not-gf over

 **jakub biochem lab** : if u catch my drift

**dre biochem lab** : uhm

 **dre biochem lab** : my roommate isn’t a big fan of having ppl over

 **dre biochem lab** : theres a coffee shop not far from campus tho? we could work there

**jakub biochem lab** : yeah thats fine ^^

 **jakub biochem lab** : ill see u then!!

 **jakub biochem lab** : u should prob sleep now :( u need to rest

As Jakub texts him, Andrei’s eyes are already starting to droop.

**dre biochem lab** : yeah will do

**jakub biochem lab** : sleep well honey <333 dont let the bed bugs bite!!! uwuwuwu

**dre biochem lab** : k bye jakub

  
  


☾

“Okay, I give up,” Andrei sighs, slumping in his chair and letting the hard knobs of the wood dig into his spine. “We’ve been looking for like, an hour, and nothing explains our results.”

Andrei’s vision is blurry at the edges from trudging through PubMed, trying to read PDFs of papers typed in negative two font size. He just wants to go home, but he can’t because their presentation is on Monday, and Jakub’s being a good sport about this whole thing-- he even bought Andrei coffee.

Jakub chuckles and stretches his arms. “It’s only been an hour and you’re ready to take a break?” The smile he shoots Andrei makes his head spin. “Here, let me see what you’re working on.

And Jakub leans over to look at his screen. He scans over it so fast Dre isn’t actually sure he read it at all. Yet, he explains it so easily, like it just came naturally to him. 

He turns his head, only to find Jakub’s face just inches from his. Somewhere, in the back of his mind, Andrei can hear Erzsébet saying, so he’s hot, he’s tall, he’s nice, he likes you, and he’s smart?

But right now, all he can really register is the pleasant musk of Jakub’s cologne, the way his long eyelashes fan over the top of his cheekbones. Andrei kind of expects it, but that doesn’t mean he’s prepared when Jakub’s eyes lower to Andrei’s mouth as he finishes his explanation that he hardly listened to. The tension spikes within a millisecond, and Andrei feels frozen in place, not sure whether he wants to run and never leave his apartment again, or kiss Jakub. He almost feels compelled to lean forward, when--

“J-Jakub-- Did you just-- sniff me?” Andrei asks incredulously, body finally catching up to Andrei’s brain as he leans away. There’s pink dusting Jakub’s cheeks, in an uncharacteristically bashful way, and Andrei is truly at a loss.

“Uhm… Yes?”

Andrei blinks rapidly, trying to assess the situation that’s spiralled rather quickly out of his control. “That’s-- why?”

Jakub laughs nervously, clearly his throat. There’s a weirdly intense look in his eyes, despite the obvious embarrassment, and Andrei doesn’t know what to do about it. “You just… smell good? I guess?” 

Andrei knows this is a bad time to try and whiff at his armpits to try and confirm. He’s never been much of a cologne guy, and all he’d used was Erzsébet’s homemade shower gel this morning. It doesn’t make sense that the scent lingered, and it’s not like it even smells that good-- though Andrei would never tell Erzsébet that.

At Andrei’s obvious bewilderment, Jakub scrambles to explain. “No, not like… cologne or anything. Just… you. Like you smell good.”

The last time Andrei was told he smelled good was when he was sixteen, by a flesh-eating demon that Toris accidentally conjured up, right before it tried to eat him. Jakub doesn’t look like a flesh-eating demon, but Andrei doesn’t want to discriminate-- demons come in all shapes and sizes.

“Just-- ugh, forget I said that.” Jakub turns around and leans forward so far that his nose is practically pressed against his computer screen. Andrei doesn’t even know how to respond, and luckily, he doesn’t have to, because his phone vibrates with a text.

**goddess of hell** : three questions

 **goddess of hell** : 1) have u seen liks theyve been missing all day

 **goddess of hell** : 2) did u steal the rib eye i was marinating it in the fridge

 **goddess of hell** : 3) where r u

**goth loser** : 1) omg no ?? where could they have gone ?? should i come home n look for them ??

 **goth loser** : 2) what the fuck no ?? i value my life ????

 **goth loser** : 3) im at the coffee shop w jakub why

**goddess of hell** : 1) relax they’ve been doing this all the time lately they’ll probably come back before u get home i was jw if they was w u

 **goddess of hell** : 2) if u didnt take it then liks took it but how tf does a cat get into a fridge

 **goddess of hell** : 3) lmao rip in pieces

**goth loser** : 1) DONT TELL ME TO CALM DOWN ??? MY ANGEL IS MISSING???? WHAT IF THEY’RE HURT ?? THEY’VE BEEN DOING THIS AND U DIDNT TELL ME ???

 **goth loser** : 2) liks hates beef y would they steal a whole rib eye 

**goth loser** : 3) please save me he just sniffed me like,,, a puppy or smth ,,,, what the fuck

**goddess of hell** : 1) literally calm down they’re a magic cat im sure they can defend themself

 **goddess of hell** : 2) THEN WHO STOLE MY FUCKING RIB EYE

 **goddess of hell** : 3) rmbr that demon that when we were in 10th grade that tried to eat u lmao

**goth loser** : 1) im having a WORD with feliks when they get home

 **goth loser** : 2) the only other ppl who have access to the apartment r toris n milen n milen wouldnt touch ur food

 **goth loser** : 3) “rmbr that demon who tried to eat u lmao” THNX FOR THAT IM GLAD SOMEONE THOUGHT IT WAS FUNNY FUCK OFFFFFFFFFF

**goddess of hell** : ok im tired of this number stuff

 **goddess of hell** : u n liks need to go to therapy

 **goddess of hell** : and i WILL find my steak-napper n if it’s toris ill kill him

 **goddess of hell** : which reminds me he’s back n he’s looking for u

**goth loser** : OMG toris’ back ???????? he’s looking for me ?????? why ???? omg

**goddess of hell** : oh my god ur literally so embarrassing i can’t

 **goddess of hell** : he wants to say hi before he goes into hibernation

 **goddess of hell** : i told him ur at the coffee shop he’ll prob apparate there so u have 15 sec

**goth loser** : NO EZSRI I LOOK LIKE SHIT

Andrei looks up from his phone in panic, cursing under his breath.

“What’s wrong?” Jakub asks, finally peeling himself away from his computer to give Andrei big concerned eyes.

“Nothing! Just… A friend is gonna drop by and say hi real quick, is that okay?”

“Yeah sure,” Jakub says with a quick shrug of his shoulders, before going back to typing on their shared Google doc. The sudden indifference almost makes Andrei pout. Almost.

“Andrei!”

Both Andrei and Jakub jolt in their seats as Toris steps into the coffee shop, waving unnecessarily. He looks especially dorky today, with a polo shirt tucked into khaki pants, but Andrei’s got butterflies anyway. 

“Toris, hi,” Andrei says, willing his face not to heat up as Toris squeezed his shoulder and sat down next to them.

“I missed you.” Toris says with a small smile. His attention then turns to Jakub, who’s been sitting there quietly.

“Oh, Toris, this is Jakub,” Andrei rushes, feeling very rude, but unable to do anything about it. The tragedy of Andrei’s life is that he’ll probably always be a little in love with Toris. Toris and Feliks have had this sort of on-and-off relationship, even when they weren’t together, their affection for each other was palpable and Andrei would never get in the middle of that. 

“Hi,” Jakub says, a little curt. Andrei is sure it’s just a trick of the light when he sees Jakub’s eyes flash red.

“What are you guys up to?” Toris eyes, eyes wide and inquisitive.

“Just working on a presentation for a class,” Andrei says. “How was your trip?”

Toris sighs. “Rough, but work is work, right?” Andrei nods.. “Glad to be back home though,” Toris says, ruffling Andrei’s hair in a very brotherly way. It’s a familiar gesture, meant to bring comfort, and it works, just like it did when Andrei was ten and blew up his mother’s closet.

The peace lasts for barely a second, because suddenly, a ferocious growl rips out of Jakub’s throat. Andrei watches, stunned, as Jakub grips the side of the table, eyes definitely flashing red

“Jakub-- what--” Andrei starts, and are those claws?

“Andrei--” Toris says, voice even and grounding, as he tugs Andrei up to his feet. “We have to get him out of here. Now.”

Andrei hesitates for a second, watching Jakub’s canine teeth begin to protrude out behind his lips, before reaching out and grabbing his arm. “Jakub, we need to go,” he says, keeping his voice low. The contact must do something to Jakub, because the sharp, menacing claws retract back into normal nails almost instantaneously.

“Take him back to the apartment,” Toris says. “I’ll fix this and meet you there.”

Andrei nods, tugging at Jakub. “C’mon.”

Jakub’s irises flicker back and forth from red to the familiar brown, eyebrows furrowing in confusion, and he stumbles after Andrei until they’re outside and hidden in an empty alleyway.

“I’m really not good at this, so I need you to hang on tight, okay?”

“Good at-- What?” Andrei doesn’t answer, just wraps his arms around Jakub tightly, muttering his apartment address, and then they’re both spinning, spinning, spinning, until they land in a heap on Andrei’s couch.

Andrei scrambled off of Jakub and helps him sit up. Jakub’s skin is sickeningly pale, eyes unfocused. “Andrei, I don’t-- I feel like I’m gonna--” And then he faints.

☾

“So… what do you think?”

Toris and Andrei hover over Erzsébet as she holds Jakub’s eye open and shines a flashlight into it. She moves on to Jakub’s teeth, pulling at his upper lip to observe the canines, which Andrei could have sworn got longer in the coffee shop.

“Well, it’s kinda obvious, don’t you think?”

Toris and Andrei share a look of mutual confusion, before turning to Erzsébet, who sighs, and mumbles something like _I’m surrounded by idiots_ , as she gets up from the couch.

“He’s lycan.” Andrei feels like an idiot. “Well… at least partially.” The three of them stare at Jakub’s unconscious form on the couch. He looks very much like a normal nineteen year-old, but then again, they all look pretty normal.

“I don’t think he knows that,” Andrei says.

Erzsébet snorts. “That’s gonna be an awkward family phone call, then. I wonder if Karina knows? Oh, I wonder if Karina is lycan too!” She’s about to leave, tugging Toris with him, when she backtracks. “Can you let Feliks in? They’ve been scratching at the door for the last minute.”

“Jesus,” Andrei mumbles, hurrying to the door and scooping Feliks up. “Where have you been? ” Feliks just meows innocently, tail curling around Andrei’s wrist. “We need to talk, buddy.”

There’s a groan from the couch, and Andrei turns just in time to see Jakub coming to, trying to sit up on the couch. Feliks’ whole body goes tense, and they start hissing. “ Liks, ” Andrei murmurs, rocking Feliks back and forth in his arms to try and get them to calm down.

It doesn’t work.

“Where am I?” is the last thing Jakub manages to ask before Feliks is launching themself out of Andrei’s arms, right at Jakub. “What the--” Feliks lets out an agitated yowl before clawing at Jakub’s face.

“Feliks!” Andrei yells, running over and barely managing to pry a very angry Feliks off of Jakub, who’s bleeding in several places on his face. Jakub’s eyes are wild and frantic as he looks at Andrei.

“What is going on?” he asks, and they both jolt when Feliks makes a strangled noise, attempting to go at Jakub again. Andrei hugs Feliks to his chest, wincing as Feliks’s claws leave red welts across his skin.

“I’m really--” Andrei grunts, trying to hold Feliks back. “Sorry-- Erzsi! Toris!”

“What the hell is that thing?”

“It’s my cat!” Andrei says defensively, because despite nearly gouging out Jakub’s eyeballs, Feliks is not a thing, they’re a person, for god’s sake.

“I’m pretty sure cats don’t have six legs?”

Erzsébet and Toris rush into the room, and it takes them a second to assess the situation. Toris darts over or scoops Feliks into his arms. “I’ll go put them in your room. He’s probably just reacting badly cuz--” He gestures vaguely towards Jakub in a way that was probably more conspicuous in his head.

Despite their tail whipping angrily and the low growl/hissing, Feliks seemed to relax in Toris’ arms as he disappeared down the hallway. They really needed to make them human again. Andrei takes a moment to catch his breath, before looking at Jakub. Erzsébet’s crouched down in front of him assessing the damage to his face.

“Fuck,” Jakub hisses as Erzsébet prods at one of the cuts.

“Amazing,” she mumbles. Jakub shoots her a dirty look, and Andrei assumes she glares right back because Jakub tenses up immediately and looks away. Erzsébet really can be scary. She motions Andrei over to them. “Look.” Andrei’s gaze lands where Erzsébet ‘s finger points to, at the cut above Jakub’s eyebrow, and watches as it scabs in front of their eyes, then disappears without a trace.

“Woah,” Andrei breathes. If they had any doubt of Jakub being supernatural, it’s gone now.

“What?” Jakub asks, voice shaky. “Why are you guys looking at me like that?”

Erzsébet looks at Jakub, then at Andrei. “You have some explaining to do.” And that’s all she says, before getting up, patting Jakub’s shoulder, and following after Toris.

Andrei is not good at confrontation. He considers himself to be a pretty nice guy, and stays under the radar. Confrontation isn’t something he’s ever really had to deal with. And now he has a guy sitting on his couch who is a werewolf and probably doesn’t know it. There’s not a spell in his grimoire that could help him with this.

“Uhm…” Andrei stammers, as Jakub raises his fingers to where the cuts used to be, pressing down and frowning when it doesn’t sting, when there isn’t blood.

“What the fuck? Am I hallucinating?” Jakub wonders. “I stole those gummies from Gil but I didn’t even have that many…”

“You’re... you’re not hallucinating…” Andrei’s hands feel clammy, so he wipes his palms on his jeans and takes a seat. Jakub eyes the (large) amount of space between them almost longingly, but Andrei keeps his distance.

“What’s happening to me?” Jakub asks, and for all his bravado, his voice is really small.

“You might be… a werewolf?”

Jakub blinks at him. “You mean like… Twilight?”

Of all the comparisons he could have drawn-- “Sure,” he deadpans. “But uh, yeah you’re a werewolf.”

Jakub snorts. “Yeah, and you’re a witch.”

Andrei gapes. “Yeah, exactly!”

“It was a--” Jakub opens his mouth, then closes it. “Oh my god, you’re serious. You’re actually serious.”

“Yeah? Did you like, not see my cat?” Jakub looks pale again, and Andrei doesn’t do well under pressure like this. “I mean like, they’re not actually a cat. They’re a human-- their name is Feliks, by the way-- but Toris accidentally turned them into a cat a couple of months ago and they’ve kinda been stuck like that ever since and--” Andrei takes a deep breath. “That’s totally not relevant because we’re supposed to be talking about you being a werewolf. I’m really bad at this. Can you tell I’m really bad at this?”

Jakub’s lips twitch up into a ghost of a smile, but it’s not all there, and it makes Andrei feel like there are hot coals in his gut. “I’d tell you your nervous rambling is cute, but I’m, kinda panicking right now and I might pass out again so…”

“Yeah, no that’s totally-- Yeah that’s fine. I mean, it’s not fine, that you’re panicking. But it’s normal, I think. I mean, I don’t know? Since I’ve been a witch my whole life. I’ve never heard of someone like, just suddenly becoming a werewolf-- And I’m rambling again.” Andrei winces, hanging his head. “Sorry.”

“Do you know what happened to me?”

“It’s probably a genetic thing? The only other way to turn into a werewolf is to get bitten and I think you would remember being bitten.”

“So… Someone in my family is a werewolf?”

“Yeah…”

There’s an awkward pause. “That’s gonna be a weird conversation, huh? Oh god, I hope it’s not Karina.”

Andrei forces himself to laugh. “Probably. But… the sooner you have it, the better. You deserve an explanation.” He pats Jakub’s thigh consolingly.

“One more question.”

“Shoot.”

“Does your cat hate me because I’m apparently a werewolf?”

Andrei doesn’t know where Jakub is going with this. “Yeah, I think so.”

Jakub breathes a sigh of relief. “So not because they has some sixth sense that tells them I’m a shitty person and I’m not allowed to date you?”

For about the millionth time today, Andrei is speechless. “You-- You’re still on that? Even after all of-- this?”

Jakub smiles, sheepish, and Andrei can’t help but think he’s kind of sort of maybe cute. “I mean… I still like you. And now we have something in common...” Jakub tilts his head. “Sort of?”

Now that Jakub’s mentioned it, Andrei can’t help but let that knot in his chest unfurl. The idea of being in a relationship with Jakub, and telling him, somewhere down the line, about magic and the supernatural and Andrei’s lucrative side business as an apothecary, had terrified him. The idea of putting his emotions on the line, only to potentially have them trampled out of fear and mistrust is not something Andrei had been willing to do.

But Jakub is taking everything surprisingly well-- almost too well. The werewolf DNA in Jakub’s blood inexplicably ties him to Andrei’s world now. Given how understanding he’s been so far, Andrei suspects that even if Jakub wasn’t showing late-onset lycanthropy, he’d probably have been okay with everything.

“Wait a minute-- Is that why you’ve been curving me all semester? Because you didn’t wanna tell me about all of this?”

Andrei sinks into the couch, embarrassed. “No.” He’s an awfu liar.

☾

  
“Poor guy,” Erzsébet murmurs. They’re sitting on the couch, watching Jakub through the glass doors of their balcony as he speaks on the phone with his sister. (“Don’t touch anything while you’re out there,” Andrei had warned. “It’s probably poisonous and can kill you in like, two seconds.”)

“Why do you say that?” Andrei takes a sip of his hot cocoa, because this situation called for hot cocoa.

“Can you imagine? Going your whole life not knowing about this? Like? Didn’t he ever feel… different? What did his parents think would happen?” Erzsébet wonders.

“I dunno… He said I smelled really good to him. Maybe he’s always had a good sense of smell?”

Erzsébet blinks. “That’s-- When you told me that I thought it was kinda creepy but now that we have the whole picture--”

“What?” Andrei sits up. “What are you not telling me?”

“Are you literally that stupid? Do I have to explain werewolf biology to you?”

“I didn’t pay attention to that part, okay? It’s already been established that I’m not that good a witch.”

Erzsébet rolls her eyes. “Werewolves believe in that soulmate stuff, you know? One of the first ways they tell their soulmate apart from everyone else is their scent.”

It takes a moment for the weight of the words to hit. “Oh my god.” Andrei almost hates himself for the fact that his first thought thereafter is that his chances of marrying Toris just got that much smaller. As if he had chances in the first place. “Oh god.”

“I mean, we don’t know for sure, but…” Erzsébet grins salaciously. “If it’s true, you could do worse.”

Soulmates are a completely abstract concept to Andrei, and he doesn’t know how to even begin wrapping his mind around it. Too much already happened today, so he’s not going to think about it right now.

(Andrei doesn’t really know what to think of soulmates. But the idea of actually dating Jakub now, doesn’t seem so bad.)

(Somewhere from inside Andrei’s room, he can almost hear Feliks protesting.)

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave kudos and comments if you enjoyed! Or you can send me an ask on tumblr!
> 
> tumblr: heta


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